Consumer product safety in informal markets is becoming an increasingly important challenge in a global economy shaped by digitalization, cross-border trade and rapidly evolving channels of commerce. Consumers today can purchase goods through a wide range of non-traditional channels, including online marketplaces, social media and peer-to-peer sales, often outside of formal markets. While these channels can expand access and choice, they can also make it easier for unsafe, counterfeit or non-compliant products to reach consumers.
Informal markets can be difficult to address through product safety frameworks originally designed for more conventional supply chains. In such settings, it may be harder to identify responsible actors, monitor products, remove hazardous goods quickly, and ensure that consumers have access to effective protection and redress.
These issues raise important questions for consumer protection and product safety agencies worldwide. They also highlight the need for practical, adaptive approaches that combine oversight, risk reduction, consumer awareness, business responsibility, and cooperation among relevant agencies and stakeholders.
Objective
This webinar, convened by UNCTAD’s Informal Working Group on Consumer Product Safety, aims to explore how informal markets and non-traditional channels of commerce are reshaping consumer product safety risks—and how regulators and other stakeholders can respond.
It will bring together consumer protection and product safety agencies, international organizations, civil society, businesses and academia, to:
- Examine current challenges related to unsafe and counterfeit consumer products in informal markets.
- Discuss how existing product safety frameworks interact with evolving forms of trade and distribution.
- Share national experiences in surveillance, enforcement, consumer education and risk reduction.
- Consider practical approaches that can strengthen consumer protection in informal market settings.
- Promote knowledge exchange and coordination among agencies and stakeholders to reduce consumer harm.
Participation
The webinar will bring together consumer protection and product safety agencies, international organizations, civil society, businesses and academia.
It is open to government representatives with relevant expertise, interested international organizations and networks, and relevant stakeholders from civil society and academia.
